Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

The Eternal Furnace XIX

The ocean of ponies from the lower levels spread out through the first big atrium and then into the massive cross-shaped room and still on, everyone looking to find space for themselves while still being somewhere warm. They knew crazy things were still going on right now in their city so they couldn’t just relax or find a new home here just yet but it was still better than being in the dark and the cold. And it was safer than trying to go up any further. The ponies needed the okay from Rainbow Dash and the others that Resin was dealt with and the city was going back to normal, until then they had to wait some more.

Wait for the battalion that was heading through them right now to undertake that mission to stop Resin and save them. Rainbow Dash and the former gang ponies were all going in the direction they needed to make it up to the top of the city as fast as possible. Rainbow had gotten a decent enough grasp of the city in her earlier ascent and descent and the warriors with her had plenty of prior knowledge of the city and its layout as well. They didn’t know when they’d first start to face adversity, since the security force may have been in chaos without Crush around, but they knew they’d hit something sooner or later.

Rainbow Dash led her army past the others towards the stairs and elevators that went to the upper levels. Everyone was going to go as high as possible. When they did finally get to the tall room that just shot up and up, Rainbow Dash had to resist the urge to just fly up it at full speed. She needed to stay with the others for now, this wasn’t supposed to be a chaotic rampage through the upper levels, it was supposed to be a coordinated assault.

Because of the dozens upon dozens of ponies traveling up with her though it was slow going for her tastes. Acid Rain and a number of other pegasi floated up with her too, all of them surveying the various levels they were passing. It was possible there were ponies of the security force they were passing entirely but that was a good thing. They didn’t need a pointless fight right now and the security forces couldn’t even do anymore damage to the city without Crush.

At the same time, Dash knew they’d eventually start having to roam through one of the upper levels since this place didn’t lead directly to the top. And Resin’s actions may have changed the layout of the city to where new routes had to be found.

Things still went mostly uneventful for the large group until they finally got to the top level of this room and they all joined up together again on the floor.

“Okay everyone, it’s here where we start to go on the attack!” Rainbow Dash said to them all. “We totally outnumber them so don’t worry but don’t go crazy either! Any groups of security ponies you see just overpower them and detain them, try and remember they’re still your fellow ponies.”

There was some grumbling from that but she hoped they’d take her words to heart.

“Let’s get on with it then. We may have to split up some to cover all the area of these levels as we make our way up but that’ll at least let us deal with any security ponies and find every possible way up,” Double Duty said.

Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement and their big force of ponies started heading down the hallways. The simple problem they had was their group was too big and most of the hallways too narrow for them to easily travel down in a big group. So they started to be stretched a little thin right from the start. Dash and the leaders were at the head of the biggest group going for the direct path to the stairs and other paths she knew would eventually take them to the top level where Resin resided.

And lo and behold was it not even five minutes of walking through these narrow hallways that they came out into a larger room where a patrol of security ponies had just finished escorting the civilians living up here into their interior rooms while the jettisoning was (ostensibly) still being carried out.

They stood and stared at each other for a moment as if in a mutual state of disbelief. The security ponies only numbered six in total and they all certainly recognized just who these ponies were that had suddenly appeared up here. And they all knew how badly outnumbered they were. The likely captain of the patrol regained his wits quicker than the others and blew into a whistle, all of them then turned and ran down another corridor. Looks like they were smart enough not to try and fight.

But they weren’t fast enough to get away from Rainbow Dash.

“Come on!” Dash yelled to the others. “Don’t let them join up with more of their forces!”

She and Acid Rain then bolted ahead while a number of others ran and flew right behind them. Double Duty was rallying his guys and Frayed Wire was charging along with Nut and Cast Iron. The two pegasi shot into the corridor the security ponies were running down and Rainbow Dash sped up to catch them. It looked like they were running to some kind of station built into the middle of the hallway that sat at an intersection. Was it a security outpost? Either way Rainbow Dash had no intention of letting them do what they wanted.

Rainbow Dash tackled the straggler of the group to the ground right as the rest of the party got to the station, the captain had pulled the door open on it and rushed inside but his fellows weren’t quite so quick. Acid Rain jumped on the next closest one while Rainbow Dash kicked her target into the wall and knocked him out before jumping over to Acid Rain while he relentlessly pummeled the one he had jumped on. Rainbow grabbed his hoof to make him stop, the guard he had jumped on was long out of commission and they had four more to go.

The three others were standing outside the door now trying to defend it while the captain was inside doing something that Rainbow Dash couldn’t see. It didn’t matter, Rainbow and Acid Rain could easily handle themselves and if by some miracle they got stalled they still had an ocean of reinforcements coming to back them up. So Rainbow shot like a bullet at the next closest while Acid Rain shot forward fairly quickly but not quite so much as her at another. The leftover one obviously saw Rainbow Dash as the biggest threat and he went to back up his ally.

The first security pony didn’t even really have time to react to Rainbow Dash colliding with and throwing him into the wall of the station behind him. His armor protected him slightly, in so much as he didn’t get knocked out, but he still groaned in pain and was slow to get up. The second one however was a unicorn that was charging up his horn for some kind of spell as he came over. Rainbow Dash doubted he’d be strong enough to restrain her like Crush was if it was something like that but she still didn’t want to give him the opportunity.

She quickly ducked down and practically glided over the metal floor to him, surprising the security unicorn at her nimble movements, and uppercutting him in the jaw before he could lower his horn at her. That powerful strike discombobulated him and made him stumble backwards until he fell over. The other one had recovered by that point and tried to tackle Rainbow Dash from behind but once she felt him trying to grab her she just grabbed him by the hoofs instead and flipped him over, smashing him into the metal floor. Grabbing his mane in her teeth she then swung him into the googly-eyed unicorn and bowled the both of them over.

Rainbow looked over just in time to see Acid Rain bashing his opponent’s head into the wall, and thankfully this time he didn’t keep going in for more. She grinned at him and the two of them stepped to go inside the station and deal with the captain while the others all came running down the corridor behind them.

“Whatever you’re doing in here you can put a stop to it right now!” Rainbow yelled when she and Acid Rain bust into the small station.

What they saw was a round desk with the last security pony inside it trying to work a radio built into the desk.

“And just who do you think you’re trying to call?” Rainbow grinned and in an instant appeared by the captain’s side, grabbing the transceiver out of his hoof.

Back out in the corridor, Double Duty and the rest of her forces had arrived and were rounding up the unconscious security ponies. The gang leaders then all came in to join her with the captain and the radio. Naturally none of them were happy to see that he was trying to either warn others or call in for reinforcements.

“We knock him out too now?” Frayed Wire asked and punched his hooves together.

“Yeah but don’t go overboard, I just want to...” Rainbow Dash trailed off as she looked at the security pony and the radio.

Acid Rain frowned at her. “Something wrong?”

“Uhh, no, but… can you guys give me a second alone in here? I want to talk to Resin,” Rainbow said.

“I don’t see why you need to contact her for anything. We already know what we need to do when it comes to her,” Double Duty scowled.

“I get it but I just want to speak to her first for a bit. I might be able to draw her out and make things easier for us when we get up to the top too,” Rainbow said.

“Suit yourself,” Double Duty shrugged.

“Thanks,” she nodded at him before looking at the security pony. “I don’t know who you were trying to call with this thing in the first place but I want you to patch me through to Resin’s control center. Can you do that? If you do I promise no one will hurt you.”

The security pony took one look over at all the gang ponies still standing in the station before quickly glancing back at Rainbow Dash and fervently nodding his head. “Y-Y-Yes.”

Rainbow Dash shooed the others out and had the guy work the radio for her, thankfully any radio system like this could contact Resin’s. Once she was dialed to the right place and calling the tyrant she had the guy step aside. Now Rainbow Dash was standing here with the microphone in front of her and the receiver in her hoof. Waiting for Resin to pick up.

There was just a low staticky sound coming from it but finally the sound of something on the other end being moved, or a switch being flipped, came through and Resin’s voice came from the other end.

~Hello? Is everything going alright with my orders? Is that you, Crush?~

“It’s not Crush, Resin.” Rainbow Dash said.

~...~

“Are you still there?”

~I am, I’m just surprised to hear your voice again, Rainbow Dash. Why are you calling me on the radio?~

Rainbow Dash sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I’ve got a few reasons. For one, Crush is dead. I thought you would want to know that.”

~Why?~

“What do you mean why?!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop the flash of anger. “He was your brother! Yeah, I know about that, and he was loyal to you, always doing everything he could to help you even when he thought it was wrong! So you tell me why?”

~None of that matters, if he’s dead it just means he gave his life in service to the flame as all ponies should. It’s a shame that he won’t be able to fulfill the orders I gave him though.~

“You know what? Maybe I’m just stupid but I really thought you would care about him more, deep down,” Rainbow Dash told her.

~I already told you the only thing I care about is the flame. It’s the only thing that matters.~

“Well your crazy plan for it is failing all over. I saved all the ponies from the lower levels, and with Crush dead no more of the city can be blown off the mountain. We’re all coming to put a stop to you now. You hear that?”

~Did you really? You’re working so hard to subvert the flame, it’s so sad. That drive could be used for far better purposes. It doesn’t matter in the end anyways. The flame will burn as brightly and hotly as it can, forever. You won’t be able to stop it. You already know what I have defending it and myself and there are even more in the city as well.~

“I know about those metal animals, yeah. They don’t scare me and they can’t stop me. You’re really underestimating me, Resin. Do you think you can keep your command center and the flame safe both at once? Cause I don’t know where everyone else might be going but I’m telling you that I’m heading directly to that dumb flame room and I’m destroying that thing. I’ll bust fuel lines, break pipes, turn off valves or whatever until your stupid flame fizzles out!”

~...~

“Cat got your tongue again, Resin?”

~No. I will not allow you to bring any harm to the flame.~

“Then try and stop me,” Rainbow said and turned off the radio. She took a deep breath to steady herself and just stared ahead for a moment. Finally she remembered the security pony still standing there and she glanced over at him. “If you were listening everything I said was true. Crush is dead, just get out of here and stay out of our way for now.”

He seemed almost pale but he nodded and once Dash and him stepped out of the station he ditched everyone down another corridor, with Dash telling everyone to just let him go.

“Let’s get ready to go to the top,” Rainbow Dash told her followers. “I’ve got Resin right where I want her, she’ll be waiting in the flame room for me, I’m sure of it.”

Double Duty nodded with the other leaders flanking him. “Then let’s finish this.”

---

Meanwhile, all throughout the maintenance areas of the top levels, panels and closed off compartments opened up and the sound of mechanical whirring and skittering spikes emerged. Dozens upon dozens of spider and crab monstrosities started to pour out of them. Resin had activated and unleashed them all. They knew their enemies and they were about to make things much more difficult for Rainbow Dash and her freedom fighters.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!